BRILLIANT Hawk Tom Mitchell has capped his extraordinary, Brownlow Medal-winning campaign with a second straight Peter Crimmins Medal as Hawthorn's club champion.
Mitchell becomes the ninth Hawk to win the best and fairest in back-to-back years since Leo Murphy – father of Fitzroy great John Murphy and grandfather former Carlton captain Marc Murphy – was the first in 1936-37.
The others are John Kennedy snr, Ian Law, Leigh Matthews (managed the feat twice), Jason Dunstall (twice), Paul Salmon, Shane Crawford (twice) and Sam Mitchell.
"It's been a busy few weeks, but to receive an award that's voted on by your coaches – not only on the way you perform, but the values we hold as a club – is pretty special," Mitchell told AFL.com.au.
"I think just to receive the Peter Crimmins award, with obviously such a great heritage and history that the Crimmins family has at our club, is a great feeling."
Mitchell, 25, was also named in the Virgin Australia AFL All Australian team for the second year in a row and won the AFL Players' Association's MVP award.
He polled 163 votes to finish well ahead of runner-up Blake Hardwick (127) – strong recognition for the young defender – Isaac Smith (125), Jack Gunston (121) and housemate Jaeger O'Meara (120).
Mitchell's and Gunston's fellow All Australian Luke Breust was a further vote back in sixth.
Hawthorn's match committee voted after each home and away season game, and players could receive a maximum of 16 votes in a match.
Mitchell always loomed as the winner off a regular season where he averaged 35.7 disposals (16 contested), 7.9 clearances, 6.3 tackles and five inside 50s.
As impressive was the former Swan's ability to evolve his game to kick more and increase his average metres gained from 313.4 per game last year to 453.1.
Mitchell embraced movement guru Mark McGrath behind the scenes after accepting the medal, crediting the huge number of hours he put into him for his success in 2018.
"Every year you want to go out there and get better and my improvement came from improving my running and skills and trying just to play my role and be as damaging as I can," Mitchell said.
"I kicked a little bit more this year and it happened a little bit naturally, but I think that's the next step.
"Obviously, it's a game you have to be able to kick the ball, so it's something I've worked on over the years and I've improved that slightly this year and hopefully I can keep doing that."
Mitchell said his next goal had nothing to do with more number-crunching, but rather his wider impact on his clubmates.
"It's how I can contribute to the next wave and try and be a part of the premiership team," he said.
"I think dragging the younger guys along for the ride and improving everyone around me – guys in the midfield – and just trying to get the best out of everyone is where I think we can all improve."
Mitchell amassed at least 40 disposals an incredible 11 times, including a competition record 54 possessions in round one against Collingwood.
His overall home and away season tally of 786 was one shy of his own record from last year.
Mitchell has kept out of the Hawks' recruiting pursuits, but is excited about the prospect of adding elite talent in the next week-and-a-half.
"Graham Wright's one of the best at what he does for a reason, so we put our trust in him and hopefully he can get some more quality players in," he said.
"I'm not going to say no to a Chad Wingard or a Dylan Shiel. We'd love to have both of those guys. I'm not sure when the Trade Period starts (Monday), but hopefully they come to Hawthorn."
Mitchell also relayed good news about his injured AC joint, which required surgery, telling AFL.com.au that he would be ready from day one of pre-season.
Liam Shiels was named the Hawks' best player across the club's two finals against Richmond and Melbourne.
The 27-year-old collected 26 disposals, 11 tackles and a goal in the qualifying final, then 23 disposals, six tackles and four clearances in the semi-final.
Other award winners were James Worpel (best first-year player), Hardwick (most promising), Gunston (most consistent) and Taylor Duryea (best clubman).
Peter Crimmins Medal top 10
1. Tom Mitchell (163 votes)
2. Blake Hardwick (127)
3. Isaac Smith (125)
4. Jack Gunston (121)
5. Jaeger O'Meara (120)
6. Luke Breust (119)
7. Ben Stratton (112)
=8. Ben McEvoy (99)
=8. Liam Shiels (99)
10. James Sicily (87)
